Hong Kong courts side with Apple over iPad trademark dispute with Proview

For those who have been following the news, you guys might be familiar with how both Apple and Proview are currently embroiled in a legal dispute over the iPad trademark. Now supposedly both companies are in settlement talks but according to Proview, it seems that they could not accept Apple’s settlement fee as it was too low. Either way should the settlement talks go awry, Proview could be looking to sue Apple for a whopping $400 million but thanks to the Hong Kong courts, it looks like Proview’s dream of a $400 million lawsuit might be further away than they think.

The courts in Hong Kong have basically sided with Apple and agreed that some of the evidence that Proview wanted to present should be excluded due to the company not complying with the court’s instructions. It was not mentioned whether Proview plans to appeal this decision, but given that the company is in a huge amount of debt, we wouldn’t be surprised if they did. For those unfamiliar with the situation, back in 2011 Proview claimed that Apple did not have the rights to use the “iPad” trademark, which they are saying belongs to them.

Apple on the other hand argued that the trademark belonged to them as they had bought the rights to it from a Proview subsidiary. However Proview claims that since they did not formally transfer the rights to the trademark, it still legally belonged to them, which in turn led to Apple claiming that Proview was conspiring to breach their contract in order to demand more money. Either way the legal battle between both companies is still going on, so be sure to check back with us again for more updates on the situation!